Good Questions: How To Finish Our Fireplace Makeover?

My husband and I are redoing our living room and decided to paint the working red brick fireplace white. We chose to paint the inside of the fireplace black and now are at a loss as to what to do regarding the hearth, which currently is flagstone. But as the pictures show, the flagstone is not straight and the mortar is rather messy. We could continue with the white over the entire hearth, but we worry about the soot and ash from fires becoming a cleaning nightmare; then we thought about continuing with the black from the inside. Or leaving it as is and trying to clean up the stone...Help!! Would love some suggestions!! Thanks! Corey W.

Corey, our first suggestion is to repaint the fireplace interior a greenish-gray that would complement the flagstone hearth. This would drastically reduce the harsh contrast of black and white and allow the hearth to blend in with the fireplace. Does anyone else have suggestions?